10 Things Paul Heyman Wants You To Forget About ECW

2. Not Paying His Wrestlers

Heyman's most unforgivable sin to his wrestlers was not paying them for their work. By the end of ECW, wrestlers were owed so much money that they knew the company would not be able to cover the debt. As documented in the bankruptcy proceedings, Rob Van Dam was owed $150,000, Joey Styles and Rhino were owed over $50,000, Shane Douglas was owed $48,000, and Francine was owed over $40,000 as well. Probably the wrestler hurt the most was Tommy Dreamer. In addition to being owed $100,000 in salary, Dreamer was also a part-owner of the company. The ring truck was in his parents name and he had invested a large amount of his own money into the promotion. Dreamer talked about this at length on the Steve Austin podcast and discusses how Heyman's failure had led Dreamer to go broke and contemplate suicide. While some performers were able to carry on their careers in WWE or TNA, the vast majority were back to working indy spot shows, never being paid what they sacrificed their bodies to earn.